JCT Tips - Currency Exchange

We see a lot of people confused or misinformed about exchange rates and where
to swap their money into yen. Sometimes it is easy to make an exchange at
an airport, but some of the exchange places do not provide the best option or
value for money. The following provides a bit of guidance.

The examples below use the difference between the buy and sell rates for cash
(notes). We have taken quotes from public sources and actual rates will
change from time to time, and vary between country and the exchange service you
use. The important measure is not necessarily the rate on a given day, but
the spread in the buy and sell rates - generally the lower the better.

Summary:

For

US dollars: exchanging in Japan is an acceptable option, but make
sure you pick the right place to convert your money.

Australian dollars: exchanging in Australia might give you an extra 8%.

Canadian dollars: exchange in Canada and you will probably pay the "cash
rate" around 4% to 5%. In Japan the cost is in excess of 10%! Get
the extra 5% and exchange in Canada.

British pounds: the "Thomas Exchange" looks very competitive, but
otherwise the English and Japanese banks look pretty similar.

New Zealand dollars: we are happy the 8% spread from our local banks is
low because we don't even get onto some of the airport exchange rate
boards, but based on the Narita rates, we get an extra $80 per $1,000 going
direct (including via Japanese ATMs).

Airports:

Most people travelling to Japan will be arriving at
Narita. Haneda (Tokyo) and Osaka/Kansai are two other common arrival
points. As an international gateway, there are several money exchange
places that offer a service for people arriving and departing. Narita
airport no longer includes a link to exchange rates (as at mid-2017), but a
representative rate can be found at MUFG
http://www.bk.mufg.jp/gdocs/kinri/list_j/kinri/kawase.html The following table shows the
cash buy and sell rates, and the spread as extracted on 17 Aug 2015.

Currency

Code

Sell

Buy

Spread

US dollars

USD

127.23

121.43

4.8%

Euro

EUR

142.81

134.81

5.9%

Canadian dollars

CAD

103.86

86.66

19.8%

UK pound

GBP

206.33

182.33

13.2%

Swiss franc

CHF

132.47

122.67

8.0%

Danish krone

DKK

20.89

16.29

28.2%

Norwegian krone

NOK

17.46

12.86

35.8%

Sweedish krone

SEK

17.09

12.29

39.1%

Australian dollar

AUD

101.47

82.07

23.6%

New Zealand dollar

NZD

90.19

72.79

23.9%

South Korean Won

KRW

1213

913

32.9%

Hong Kong dollar

HKD

18.48

13.62

35.7%

Singapore dollar

SGD

94.87

83.21

14.0%

Thai baht

THB

4.00

3.06

30.7%

The two images
below show the rates at Narita from February 2015. The first board quotes
122.94/111.97 and the second quotes USD rates as 121.90/116.10. It should
be fairly easy to see that the first exchange has a spread of 9.8% between rates
while the second one is only a 5.0% spread. Assuming the middle is the
real rate, the difference here is 2.5% or $25 on USD1,000 for the sake of
knowing which window to walk to. In this case the MUFG rates are better.

A couple of the other currencies are worth looking at:

Australian dollars: 103.18/77.26 or a 33.5% spread.

British pounds: 194.79/166.87 or a 16.7% spread.

Canadian dollars: 105.61/78.61 or a 34.3% spread.

In Japan - Banks:

MUFG (24 Mar
2015)

US dollar
122.61/116.81 (5.0%)

Euro
135.11/127.11 (6.3%)

British pound 191.15/167.15 (14.4%)

Australian dollar 103.97/84.57 (22.9%)

Canadian dollar 104.39/87.19 (19.7%)

SMBC (24 Mar 2015)

US dollar
122.82/116.82 (5.1%)

Euro
135.08/127.08 (6.3%)

British pound 190.18/168.18 (13.1%)

Australian dollar 105.80/82.80 (27.8%)

Canadian dollar 106.37/85.17 (24.9%)

Before you leave:

The following rates are picked off various
banks web sites. We have included New Zealand because that is where we are
based, and we are pretty happy with the local rates (compared to our neighbours
in Australia). In case you get confused about which rate is which, it is
always the one where the bank wins and you lose (sorry about that).

US
Dollars

Quotes retrieved 24 Mar 2015.

Bank of America 126.5/113.4 (11.5%)

Wells Fargo xxxx/113.8

(still hunting more/better reliable information)

Canadian
Dollars

Quotes retrieved 17 Aug 2015.

Bank of Montreal 99.63/91.06 (9.4%)

TD Canada Trust 98.28/91.84 (7.0%)

Scotiabank 98.85/91.63 (7.9%)

Australian Dollars

Quotes retrieved 24 Mar 2015.

Commonwealth Bank 104.42/89.15 (17.1%)

Westpac 103.04/89.02 (15.7%)

ANZ 104.71/89.60 (16.8%)

British Pounds

Quotes retrieved 24 Mar 2015.

Natwest 193.41/167.50 (15.4%)

RBS 193.41/167.50 (15.4%)

Post Office 198.06/170.00 (16.5%)

Thomas Exchange Global 182.92/175.00 (4.5%)

New Zealand Dollars

Quotes retrieved 24 Mar 2015.

BNZ: 96.84/89.84
(7.8%)

Westpac: 97.14/89.45 (8.6%)

ANZ: 96.54/89.32
(8.1%)

ASB: 97.31/89.89
(8.2%)

Hotel Currency Exchange:

Don't - I am yet to see any hotel have
anything close to a reasonable conversion rate.